Speed recording method and device



July 29, 1941. F. ABELL 2,250,442

SPEED RECORDING METHOD AND DEVICE Filed Aug. 16, 1937 INVENTOR.

nk Abgll ATTORNEY.

Pateuted July 29, 1941 v STATES AT T FFICE cosmos SPEED RECORDING ItPIETHOD AWE DEVIEE one}; Abel], lnglcwoofi, Calif. Application August 18, 1937, Serial No. loses:

((25. ec -es) e (Claims.

' 'r he used. in court evitvhei'e he o oereteei the. or, i also the speed of the under such. ccmoitiocs. The time of the day may else be recorded so as to further said would need little or scolded.

foo corroboice l a is the matter efter viewing; pictures whicl. w exactly whet toot; piece.

osovide s novel of travel of on An object of my method. of oletermiil w object,

Another object is to :1. novel method of determining thospeed of t: cool oil on object which comprises taking; sequential exposures of the ohject is second object, simottoi'ieously record ing on each exposm'e the speed of travel, if any, of the second object, and utilizing the known intervals betweeit exposures, the recordeei speed of the second object end the recorded sizes of the first object in the ez'roosures to compute the speed of the first object. A

A further object is to provide in a method such that lost described, the step of recording on each exposure ooimege of s time recording device which indicates the interval between exposures.

An object of the invention is to photographi cellv record the movement of a, vehicle, and also speed indicating opperotm. 7

Another object of the invention is to mount a. photographic opp-erotics upon a. vehicle, which is capable of photographing in successive exposures, another vehicle and also speed indicating means upon one and the some film, ports of the film being reserveci for particular scenes and said upparatus being positioned so as to conceal it from view to persons outsiole the vehicle amt at the some time arranged so as to not obstruct the view of the moments of the vehicle.

Another object is the provision of a moving picture camera in e. vehicle having a plurality of lenses, one or more oi the lenses being utilized to focus a main object open at sensitized film and one or more of the other lenses being used for thereof to he used focusing another object or objects upon a froctlonol and exclusive part oi. said film.

Another object is the provision of a moving.

picture-like comers. having" means for focusing foreign G2 unrelated objects simultaneously upon its film in a, manner so that when the film is projected upon a screen e fractional pert thereof will clearly show the object or objects of one View. and mother fractional part thereof will I show the ociect or objects of another view when screened in the usuol and well known manner.

A still l1e;c object the invention is the provision Off means for photegrephically recorcitwo or more objects which are not ordinarily in the some i'suge of view, out clearly focused.

upon the some film so thet 'vvhen the film is developed 2 major scene is shown hovine' minor scene superimposed thereon in. e. manner not to interfere one another.

Still further objects will appear reading and perusing the specilioetioo drawing.

The following description is made to instruct one skilled in the art how to melee. use and vend one or more forms of. the invention, but it is to be understood that the description and illustrations are not to be interpreted. as limiting scope of the invention in any manner whatsoever except as limited by the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 shows the invention mounted behind a Windshield of an automobile, parts being shown insecticn.

Figiue 2 shows a plan view of the invented device, partly in section.

Figure 3 shows on enlarged the device.

Figure 4 shows a front elevation of the device, partly in section.

Figure la shows a section of a moving picture film.

Figure 5 shows a modified teem of the invention mounted vertically upon the clash board of an automobile, parts being shown in section.

Numeral I indicates a port of an automobile structure having the usual cowl 2, dashboard 3 and e, windshield 4 of glass or other ire. sperent materiel.

The reference character 5 indicates a. moving picture comers "which may he of any well known construction having reel cases e and i so mounted that one of the reels carries the unexposed film, and the other reel carries the exposed film. A hand crank 33 is shown mounted. upon the side of the camera for winding 2. sorin therewith in a. well known manner which provides stored side elevation of energy to operate the mechanism necessary to bring portions of the film inrapid successive focus with respect to a main lens 9. The stored energy of the spring is under the control of a finger shift It. Should the camera be operated by an electric motor or any other means, the element In obviously would have the lever to control the starting and stopping of the camera. A bracket arm i l fixed to the dashboard by means of bolts l2 supports the camera through an adjustable ball pivot ii in a well known manner; a wing nut l4 being provided to hold the adjustment.

A bracket i5 is fixed to the side of the camera base by screws l5 and has a horizontal shelf 11 upon which is mounted a common type speedometer i8, and stop watch IS. The speedometer and watch may be held to the shelf in any suitable manner such as by welding or, bolts and clamps may be used if preferable. An ordinary pocket watch may also be fixed to the shelf.

In order to have a complete picture-taking operation, the name or designated number of the operator may be suitably applied to the shelf ll.

The speedometer has the usual torque wire and easing lBa which leads to the other moving part of the vehicle having unvaryihgly relative motion in respect to the wheels in the well known manner. The stop watch l9 has a lever 20 which is shiftable to stop and start the watch in a well known manner. The stop watch is provided with the usual winding stem 2i.

Mounted beneath the camera is a reflector 22 having a socket 23 and electric lamp 24 so arranged in position so as to illuminate the speedometer and stop watch. A bracket 25 supports the reflector and is fastened to the under side of the camera base by bolts or screws.

' The camera also has the usual adjustable diaphragm 26; and a conventional shutter 21 which are connected together in any suitable manner so that they work in unison. The apertures of the diaphragm and shutter are timed in relation to the speed of the film 29, so as to cause succes-.

sive exposures thereon in a well known manner.

An auxiliary lens 30 is mounted in any suitable manner in alignment with a right angled prism 3! which is so positioned that it will reflect the light through the lens onto a portion of the film 2!. An aperture 32 is provided in one vertical wall 33 of the camera. which is of sufilcient length and breadth to receive reflected light from an inclined mirror 34 having side shields 35. The mirror is set at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the vertical wall 33 of the camera; and the hypotenuse plane Ila of the prism is set at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the auxiliary lens axis and also with respect to the plane of the film 29. By this alignment of the lenses and reflection surfaces, the image (speedometer and watch) is focused upon the film simultaneously with the main focus through the lens 9. The speedometer and stop watch, mirror, auxiliary lens and prism are so positioned relative to one another so that the speedometer and stop watch are clearly focused upon a small portion only of the film 29, whereas the larger portion of the film 28 is exposed to the light through the main lens 9. The film 29 is positioned, of course, h respect to the lens 8 and lens 30 so as to bring the reflected light of the main object' through 9 into focus therewith in a manner indicated in Figure 4a by the numeral 36; and through lens 3|, the smaller object, speedometer and stop watch as indicated by 81.

Means are provided for startingthe watch I! and for stopping it; the means including a double armed bell crank II pivoted at 3!, one arm 4| thereof being fixed to and positioned to shift the lever 14. Another arm 41 of the bell crank being under the'infiuenoe of a,tension spring 4| which is fixed to a bracket 42, the spring always urging the arm 43 toward the bracket 41. Another arm 44 of the bell crank is pivoted to a rod 45 having a soft iron plunger 46' at one end thereof which is fixed to the camera finger shift ll by any suitable means.

An electric solenoid 41 held in alignment with the plunger and fixed to the camera base by brackets 48 is so arranged that when the solenoid is energized the energy thereof .will pull the plunger 46 downward which will pull the finger shift ll downward, and start the camera operating, and at the same time, through the, operation of the bell crank, actuates the lever II to start the stop watch operating. The solenoid is provided with electrical current of any suitable character by insulated wires and II. A switch 51 is provided in the wire 49 to control the current to the. solenoid. This switch may be placed at any convenient location such as on the steering wheel of the vehicle, or upon the dashboard. On the solenoid side of the switch 5| are provided insulated wires 52 and 53 which connect to the socket 23 of the illuminating means. Therefore, by closing the switch ii, the camera is operated, ,the stop watch is set into operation, and the lamp 24 is illuminated, all

through the use of the solenoid,

Figure 5 shows a modification of the invention having the camera, brackets, mirrors, illuminating means, etc. as already explained heretofore for the first described form of the invention. The camera in this instance, however, is fixed vertically to the dash I by bracket 54 in a manner so that it can not be readily seen from without the car. The mirror 34 thereof is turned as indicated in order to reflect light into the camera from the speedometer and stop watch located upon the bracket IS, the bracket II in this instance being fixed to the camera base so as to support the speedometer and stop watch in proper position of the camera necessitated an additional reflector, preferably a right angled prism 55 having its hypotenuse plane 55a at an angle of 45 degrees to the axis of the main lens 8, and also to the object si hted forward of the automobile. A bracket 56 fixed to the dashboard and the prism may be provided to hold the prism in proper position.

In referring to a stop watch or chronometer as used herein, it is intended that any watch that records time in seconds and fractions thereof may be used.

The invention herein set forth may be used to advantage by police when installed in their automobile or upon their motorcycles for collecting positive evidence in speed cases and due to the provision of the main lens I, auxiliary lens Ill, its prism Ii and the shutter 21 which is common to both lenses the pictures taken simultaneously by the lenses will appear on each frame of the film used in taking the pictures. The film need only be projected upon a screen in court to convince both judge and accused whether or not a certain vehicle exceeded the lawful speed limit. The scene upon the screen would show two independent pictures in the same view; one picture would be the vehicle ahead of the police car, and the other, a speedometer and stop watch. Obviously, if the speedometer picture shows a readingof 30, miles per hour and the main object picture shows the vehicle ahead of the police car obviously diminishing in size, it is clear that the vehicle must have been running at a higher speed than 30 miles per hour. By referring to the Stop watch or chronometer, the time interval between any two distances of the diminishing, or for that matter, the increasing .size of the vehicle, may be readily determined. check of the vehicle speed, a like vehicle may be photographed at known distances for comparison.

Then by comparing sizes of the vehicles appeering in the pictures, the distance traveled in unit time may be easily computed. This speed, computed with the speed recorded by the speedometer, gives the total speed of the vehicle.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a speed-recording device that is relatively simple in construction, inexpensive of manufacture and very effective in performing the functions for which it is intended.

It will be understood that minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of my improved speed recording method and device may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of determining the speed of travel of an object which consists in making a plurality of sequential photographic exposures of said object with a camera traveling in the same direction as said object and at substantially the same linear speed as said object, photographically recording on an unobstructed section of each of said exposures the image of a'speedometer to indicate the linear speed of said camera, and utilizing the recorded linear speed of the camera and the recorded size of the photographed object for determining the speed of said object.

For a more accurate 2. In a method of recording and determining the speed of a traveling object from a second traveling object traveling in the same direction as said first object and, at substantially the same linear speed, the steps of producing on a photographic film strip carried by the second object a plurality of exposures of the first object, simultaneously producing on an unobstructed section of each of said exposures of the first object the images of a speed recording device which indicates the linear speed of the second object and of a timing device which indicates the intervals between exposures, and'utilizing the time difierential recorded between two or more exposures of the first traveling object, the speed of the second object, and the recorded size of at least a portion of the photographed object for determining the speed thereof.

3. The method of determining the speed of travel of a vehicle, comprising making a plurality of sequential photographic exposures at known intervals of said vehicle from a second vehicle, simultaneously photographically recording on each of said exposures the image of a speed recording device indicating the linear speed of the second vehicle, and utilizing the known intervals between exposures, the recorded linear speed of the second vehicle and the recorded sizes of the first vehicle in the successive exposures for determining the speed of the first vehicle.

4. The method of determining the speed of travel of a vehicle, comprising making a plurality of sequential photographic exposures of said vehicle from a second vehicle, simultaneously pho- FRANK ABELL. 

